Baseball Agility

By Tom McGilliray

Baseball players may not be gymnasts, but the benefits of having extended levels of flexibility will give you an edge over your competition. Keep your muscles warm, stretched, and flexible. This allows you to make more natural movements such as tracking a fly ball, going deep in the hole, or running out an infield hit, as well as hitting.

Exercises that emphasize stretching and flexible resistance are important in developing flexibility. Flexibility and agility will help you with the following:

1. Speed - A big portion of being agility is your speed. Being able to move quickly and effortlessly is important, especially in team sports. Increasing the speed of your movements, gives you an increased chance of making the play. A good jump rope used in conjunction with gymboss is superior for building speed and overall fitness. Also, Drill exercises, such as jumping from one portion of the ground straight up in sets of 10 - 20 or running sprints will increase your speed. Interval training using the gymboss is exception for this.

2. Reaction - Training yourself to decrease your reaction time and increase your reflexes is one of the best ways to improve your agility. Plyometric drills teach a player to react quickly and will increase their overall conditioning. A quick reaction time will also allow you to recover faster.

3. Drills - Some common drills used to increase speed and reaction time are used for many sports. One of the drills (mentioned earlier)is a pyrometric exercise. This is done in the standing position, then squatting down to jump straight up in the air as high as you can. Other drills one can utilize are ladder drills, cones drills, basic form running, and working on lifting your knees high. Kettlebell training is a form of training gaining in popularity yet offers athletes a different option for training.
Having a variety of exercises and workout routines, is pivotal to keep from getting bored, and promotes a better level of conditioning.

4. Conditioning - As an athlete you are only limited by your own thoughts. Baseball players will work on their physical conditioning, but will also work on fielding, hitting, and base running. Everything you will do in a game they work on.

Today's athlete trains all year round to ensure they are in peak condition before the season starts.
Remember that agility is more than one element-it is balance, coordination, strength and speed all working together to improve the overall athlete.

Tom has been involved with coaching youth baseball for 20 years, all age levels. You can visit his website at http://www.lefthandbaseballgloves.com

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Complete Bat Speed - A Single Strength Training Exercise to Improve the Baseball Player's Hitting!

By Brandon Richey

Baseball strength training exercises should focus in on the development of core strength and hip power. As a strength and conditioning professional I can think of no better exercise for doing this than the single arm overhead kettlebell snatch. This is the king of kettlebell lifts that is sure to help you develop the necessary athletic traits for you to obtain superior bat speed.

By implementing the kettlebell snatch you are adding a component to your strength and conditioning workout that will ensure the success of your baseball season. In order to be a good hitter you have got to have bat speed. Aside from the hand to eye coordination necessary to hit the ball your body must be able to react quickly to a very fast situation. The bat needs to feel light in your hands. Your timing must be flawless, but if it is off by a very small margin hopefully your core power will be able to help you compensate. The single arm kettlebell snatch is a powerful lift that requires a bit of technique to pull it off properly. Like hitting this is a lift that takes both skill and strength. The object of the exercise is to lift a single bell from either the ground or from between your legs up to a held position above your head in a swift smooth motion. In order to do this you must forcefully flex and then extend at both your hip and knee joints to create force to elevate the kettlebell to a high pull position lateral to your head. At the time the bell raises to this level it should be almost weightless for a fraction of time. At this peak of weightlessness you will want to vertically punch your palm towards the sky locking your elbow out and securing your shoulder into the socket. As you initiate the upward phase of this lift you should be pulling substantially with your lat in order to elevate the bell. By engaging your lat and keeping your shoulder secure in the socket you will have very little problem pulling this lift off.

Once again, in order to develop a substantially effective strength and conditioning workout you have got to include the use of kettlebells into your program. By utilizing this ancient device you stand to outperform everyone on the field in every area of the game. Including even the most basic lifts will help you to cause your opponent to have trouble falling asleep at night. Don't let that worry fall into your head. Remember that anyone can train hard, but only champions train smart my friend!

To learn more about how to utilize your body, Kettlebells, and to achieve Mind Blowing fitness get your copy of My "Better Than Steroids Ebook" by clicking here: http://www.betterthansteroidsebook.com/www.betterthansteroidsebook.com/Better_Than_Steroids_Ebook.html


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Increase Your Speed

By Jeffrey Paluseo
If your hip flexors are too tight then I know that you are not running at your top speed, you're not swinging your bat as fast as you can, and you are not throwing with the highest velocity possible. In a game like baseball that relies so heavily on how hard you throw, tight hip flexors must be addressed if you want to continue to play at a high level and reach your dream.
So many parents, coaches and scouts will tell the player that they need to get stronger, which maybe the case; however getting stronger will not fix the problem of tight hip flexors. The only thing that will happen is that the player will get stronger and their hips will get even tighter. This will ultimate limit the players playing ability, and could end up injuring them.

So why does this happen you ask? Why do our hip flexors get so tight? Well our hip flexors get tight because we sit so often. As a result of us sitting so much or even being in a crouched ready position (like baseball fielding position) the muscles in the back of our legs (glutes and hamstrings) do not activate or fire properly. Once a muscle gets tight an opposing muscle tries to help out and do the job of the muscle that is not functioning properly, which leads to more fatigue. If this continues long enough an overuse injury generally occurs. How do I fix my tight Hip Flexors to increase my Speed? The first place to start is with a proper warm-up. I like to recommend that the player starts with some striders (a jog or sprint of about 90 feet) at about 60 -70% effort. After completing your striders then perform a dynamic warm-up to prepare your body for the movements of the game of baseball. Once this has been completed, I would do some foam rolling of the hip and stretching.

Foam Rolling the Glutes, Foam Rolling the TFL, and Kneeling Hip Flexor Stretch Perform the stretch on both sides of your body, holding the stretch for about 30 seconds. Here is a great piece of advice if you still feel tight, stretch again. You can do this stretch as much as you would like, so get after it. Hey parents this one is not just for your ball player, since at least 92% of all people will have some sort of back pain in their life; this would be a great idea for you to do as well. Don't wait until you are in pain to start stretching. The result of having tight hip flexors puts undue stress on the back; it simply changes the natural mechanics of your back.

Here is the great news about loosening you hip flexors; by loosening those hips all of a sudden you instantly got stronger. Why because now you are able to activate the glutes and hamstrings. As a result, you are now swinging harder and driving the ball, stealing more bases, making plays that before you could only hope to do; and throwing it by hitters. All of this can be accomplished simply by loosening your hip flexors. Is it worth the effort? I'll let you be the judge.

Jeff Paluseo

Owner and founder of Sports Fitness Solutions. He played professional hockey , was the Head strength and conditioning coach for the Houston Astros double A affiliate the Corpus Christi Hooks and the Head Strength and conditioning Coach for Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi. Check out his website at http://www.sports-fitness-solutions.com

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Lightning Fast Bat Speed

By John Furia
How can I speed up my bat? I want to improve my power! For baseball players bat speed is a necessity! How do you acquire it if it does not come so naturally? The key is strength development in the lower body and trunk (core).

One of the key muscles in improving bat speed is a low back muscle called the Quadratus Lumborum. This muscle is critical in laterally flexing and rotating the spine and aids the obliques in further rotating the spine. The key word here is rotation! Once improved strength is gained in this area trunk rotation will improve drastically which then in turn develops greater bat speed.
It has most often been thought that superior bat speed is developed solely through efficient swing mechanics. I have found the trunk rotational strength component to be even more effective even with a poorly executed swing. So imagine the combination of mechanically sound swing mechanics in conjunction with superior targeted strength in the Quadratus Lumborum and surrounding trunk muscles. So how do you strengthen the Qadtratus Lumborum? One of the most effective strength exercises to improve Quadratus strength and function is the "Seated Good Morning" exercise.

Execution:

Place a barbell in a squat rack. Deload the bar from a standing position. Have a bench with a height of about 24"-36" behind you depending on your height. With the bar sitting across the upper trapezius (not the top of the neck) sit on the very edge of the bench with your feet wide apart and your toes slightly pointed outward. Your grip on the barbell should be as wide as the bar will allow. From the seated position lower your trunk slowly to the floor. Head up, chest tall and with an arched low back bring your trunk as far as your body will allow forward. Range of motion will vary from individual to individual. Do not force range of motion and allow the motion to come on its own. After several exposures to the exercise range of motion and end range strength will improve enough so that you will end parallel to the floor. Rep range should be in the 6-10 range.

Try this exercise for about four to six weeks in conjunction with your lower body program. Exercises that work well with the seated good morning are barbell squats, front squats and trap bar dead lifts. With these movements you will see noticeable improvements in bat speed which will reap huge payback with gap power.

John Furia is the owner of Furia's Xceleration Strength & Conditioning located in Deer Park, New York. John is a highly sought-after Strength & Conditioning coach for healthy and injured athletes alike, he has helped athletes at all levels - from youth sports to the professional and Olympic Levels - achieve peak performance in a variety of sports.

http://www.xcelerationstrength.com/

http://www.johnfuria.com/

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